Analytical Essay: English Elective,We are all Different. We are all the Same.
I am a worrier. Yes, everyone worries at some point in their lives, but I truly do worry about a lot of things. I worry about small things like whether I locked the front door before going to bed, if I made sure to turn in my math homework, or remembered to take my gummy multivitamins in the morning. I also worry about bigger things like whether I will fit in at school, if my friends really truly like me as a person, or if I will succeed in life. As a result of my worrying, I have grown to become a devout skeptic. When I ask myself in the morning if I remembered to put my laptop in my backpack, I in fact do remember putting it in its usual pocket, however, due to my everlasting skepticism, find I cannot put my worry to rest until I stop the car, unbuckle my seat belt, and reach into the backseat where I unzip my backpack to, lone behold, find my computer exactly where I told myself it would be. An internal battle, I constantly find myself fighting my own intuition, even when in my heart I am 100% certain. Furthermore, I came into this class with a closed mind, unwishing and thus unable to open up to new theories and ideas. The course title, “Visions of Realism”, perplexed me. My skeptical sentiment convinced me that there was only one reality, my reality, because that was the only reality I personally could prove existed. As the course progressed, though hesitantly, I began to flip my disbelief on its head. In suspending my judgement and apprehension, I could make strides in coming out of the cave to face the harsh, bright light that is my new found understanding of the existence of other realities different than my own. That was, until we began to discuss the idea of clichés. I am one of a kind. I walk off the beaten path and I live my life how I want to, in an original, authentic manner. However, when I found out that my job application for Target had been rejected, I vehemently professed to myself that ‘tomorrow is a new day’ and the ‘grass is always greener on the other side’. Unknowingly at the time, I partook in one of the many common clichés our society forces down our throats from a very early age. Whether we choose to believe so or not, our lives are the culmination of variations of the same basic clichés. What this epiphany brings me to is the question, even though we are all individual, distinctly separate beings with our own unique realities and corresponding ideas of truth, why do we rely so heavily on, and always end up coming back to, overworn, overused clichés? We are all born in the cave. We bask in the blissful ignorance that is immaturity and adolescence until the fateful day we must evolve and transcend. The first text we leaned into this semester, Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, was essential in my development of a new concept of what reality really is. In the prelude to Plato’s writing, it reads, “The Allegory presents, in brief form, most of Plato’s major philosophical assumptions: his belief that the world revealed by our sense is not the real world but only a poor copy of it, and that the real world can only be apprehended intellectually”. What Plato discovered through his philosophical studies was the presence of two distinct realities: one, a “poor copy” of our world, and the other, only sought through intellect. Those inside the cave, the “strange prisoners”, only ever view a reflection of the ‘real’ world. In effect, although they may grow accustomed to their surroundings in such a way as to view them as truthful and real, those in the cave are living in ignorance. No, the people themselves are not ignorant, but rather, are ignorant to their situation. Growing up and staring at the shadows, this life has become their reality. Moreover, the allegory in the story is that we as human beings should cease to settle for an unexplored, imperfect life. Yet, although we are destined to do so, coming out of the cave is not without its challenges, as one may experience “sharp pains” and a distressing “glare” during the transition. Also, after transcending to their new found state of enlightenment, would they “not fancy that the shadows which [they] formerly saw are truer than the objects which are now shown to [them]?”. Just like me, those exiting the cave are staunch skeptics. They believed that their false reality was the only reality that existed, unable to consider the possibility that a completely different reality could be just as real as the one they had just left. I experienced a similar eye-opening encounter when reading an article about Toni Morrison discussing the idea of magical realism. She explains, “My own use of enchantment simply comes because that’s the way the world was for me and for the black people I knew ... There was this other knowledge or perception, always discredited but nevertheless there, which informed their sensibilities and clarified their activities”. Morrison contends that she and the other black people she knew possessed another “knowledge or perception” which was consistently “discredited”. In saying “discredited”, what Morrison means is that her truth was being incorrectly labeled as fiction. Even though some of the elements in her story were indeed fictitious, incorporating the label or fantasy, she claimed, only diluted the realism presents. What this clarification made me realize is, even though we all exist in the same universe, on the same planet, at the time time, we each are living distinct, unique realities. Yes, some of the elements of Morison’s work may be fictitious to me, she is speaking her truth from her reality. Everybody endures different experiences thus leading to different perceptions of what is real and what is the truth. One important takeaway I noted from this new point of view is that, though one’s reality may differ from another, neither are less real. Coming to this conclusion was not easy. I found it somewhat difficult to push through my skepticism for the sake of personal growth. Plato claims my doing so was possible due to the fact that one cannot “put knowledge into the soul which was not there before, like sight into blind eyes”. Although I may have been in the cave, I still possessed the same knowledge that someone on the outside did, only it was suppressed deep in my mind. Everyone has the ability and knowledge to exit the cave, but it is a lack of sheer willpower and desire to exit that prevents some from enduring the vast pain of the bright light in exchange for unmatched enlightenment. Better safe than sorry. This is the phrase I muttered to myself after throwing away a container of yogurt that was one day past the best-by date. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Those were the words of wisdom my father gave me while sitting in the emergency room on Christmas eve with a broken wrist. There's no time like the present. That was the phrase I professed to my mother when she was debating on whether or not to buy her new car. These sayings and many more are a collection of clichés that, whether consciously or not, I utter each and every day. Clichés have been a significant part of literature forever. Constantly recycling the same basic clichés under new pretenses or parameters, all ages from adolescence to adulthood are constantly reading and absorbing the same overused phrases. J.R.R. Tolkien’s On Fairy Stories, although not directly addressing clichés, answers several questions and responds to several myths concerning the authenticity of fairy stories, and ultimately, how they are not the bland, oversimplified pieces they have been labeled as. Tolkien writes, “I said the sense ‘stories about fairies’ was too narrow. It is too narrow, even if we reject the diminutive size, for fairy-stories are not in normal English usage stories about fairies or elves, but stories about Fairy, that is Faerie, the realm or state in which fairies have their being. Faerie contains many things besides elves and fays”. When coming across the term “Fairy story”, one would automatically think they were to read a story about fairies, however, fairy stories are so much more than purely that. A pseudo-archaic term, the word Faerie refers to a reality other than our own. One not just limited to fairies, but a variety of magical creatures alike. Yet, our clichéd society has taught us that these stories can and should only be about fairies, which limits the possibility for exploration and imagination within this fantastical reality. Moreover, a cliché is not just limited to being an overused expression or phrase, but also to include predictable actions and events as a result of the outcome of previous events. One of these clichés would be the assumption that fairy-stories are “specially associated with children”. Granted, though some children do often enjoy reading such stories, “the association of children and fairy-stories is an accident of our domestic history”. Often complex stories, both adults and children both find enjoyment and knowledge through these stories, yet, due to the cliché of them being ‘children's books’, many adults face scrutiny for wishing to engross themselves in this type of literature. Although clichés may be painfully overused, it is almost always a shared, recognizable phrase or action that brings us together as human beings. When my physics teacher claims that the ‘devil is in the details’, instead of taking its literal meaning, instinctively, I recognize the idiom both in this phrase, and the meaning behind many other clichés. In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, he explains, "It is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one's existence -- that which makes its truth, its meaning -- its subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. We live, as we dream -- alone. . . ". Claiming that we both “live” and “dream” “alone”, Conrad is supporting the theory that we each live a completely independent life in our own reality. But wait, how does this understanding of reality have a connection to clichés? They make us feel more normal as humans desperately craving social conformity. With such different lives, we feel a vast need to be more like one another. Cue clichés. Typically possessing a very general meaning, a cliché can be interpreted in many different ways in order to conform to an individual's needs. While we grow up being taught by our parents and peers that authenticity and originality is desirable, we are consistently fed a different message through the literature and film we consume. By preaching the same common clichés over and over, we are subconsciously being taught to abandon our uniqueness in exchange for conformity. Whether this is a good or bad thing, I cannot say, as I believe there are pros and cons to both sides of the argument. Personally, I feel stuck. As much as I want to express myself and be me, I don’t quite know who I truly am. I am no longer able to distinguish myself from the clichés in my life and feel as if I have become almost numb. I neither wish to conform to societal normalities nor be a completely unique person severed from the rest of society. I am perpetually somewhere in between, vying for both anotherness and coherence with every waking breath. In Leslie Jamison’s essay We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live Again, Jamison contends, “I started to believe there was an ethical failure embedded in skepticism itself, the same snobbery that lay beneath the impulse to resist clichés in recovery meetings or dismiss people’s overly neat narratives of their lives”. Jamison claims that within the idea of being skeptical is a pronounced “failure” to uphold one's “ethical” principles. Dealing with right and wrong, one’s ethics is a culmination of their moral principles which then govern their behavior. To be a skeptic, according to Jamison, means that one embodies a lack of moral principles, blurring the line between right and wrong in their questioning. Additionally, she claims that there is a “snobbery” in resisting clichés. In rejecting these common phrases and actions, one is acting almost superior to their peers. We are all subjects of the same kingdom being ruled by clichés. To reject said clichés is to view oneself as a knight rather than a commoner, when really, we are all commoners. We are all equals, plain and simple. We may try to reject the status quo in an attempt to follow our own realities, but undoubtedly, we will always revert back. Clichés have been a part of human nature since its creation, and will remain a part until its destruction.
An analytical essay comparing, contrasting, and wrestling with the different texts we read and analyzed during the semester, this essay was the cumulative assessment for my Visions of Realism english elective Junior year. In dealing with ideas such as truth, clichés, and reality, the essay stretched the bounds of an English course, delving into the field of philosophy. I have always been incredibly fascinated by the human psyche and the study of psychology. In comparing our study of various literary texts with some more fundamental questions concerning human nature, I was able to discuss the course in a manner that reflected my deep rooted interest in psychology. I believe that the final product is great example of my critical thinking capacity and analytical wiritng skills.
Formal Lab Report: AP Physics II, The Photoelectric Effect
The purpose of this lab was to investigate the relationship between the maximum energy of photoelectrons as a function of intensity, as well as the relationship between the maximum energy of the photoelectrons as a function of the wavelength and frequency. Using an online resource, we were able to take data using the mercury lines from a spectral light source. The lab report linked above is a comprehensive, formal write up of the experiment. With background information, a description of the procedure used, a diagram of the experiment set up, data tables and accompanying graphs, thorough analysis, error calculation, and a conclusion, the lab demonstrates not only extensive critical thinking, but eloquent, conscience writing, and computation abilities.